For the study, 29 people ate salads topped with dressings that had varying fats: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Each salad was served with 3 grams, 8 grams or 20 grams of fat from dressing. The researchers tested the diners’ blood to learn how well they absorbed compounds such as lycopene and beta-carotene, which are associated with a reduced risk of problems such as cancer and heart disease.

Monounsaturated fats are found in canola and olive oils. Saturated fats are found in butter and cream. Polyunsaturated fats are found in corn and soybean oils.

Fat-phobes, take note: The researchers found that people needed the least of the dressings made with monounsatured fat to get the most absorption.

"If you want to utilize more from your fruits and vegetables, you have to pair them correctly with fat-based dressings," Mario Ferruzzi, the study's lead author and a Purdue associate professor of food science, said in a statement. "If you have a salad with a fat-free dressing, there is a reduction in calories, but you lose some of the benefits of the vegetables."

The study was published online Wednesday in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. Researchers found that soybean oil was the most dependent on how much was eaten. The more fat, the more carotenoids the subjects absorbed. Saturated fat — butter, in this case butter — also depended on volume, but less so.

Olive oil lovers are in luck: Monounsaturated fat-rich dressings promoted the equivalent carotenoid absorption at 3 grams of fat as it did 20 grams.

“You can absorb significant amounts of carotenoids with saturated or polyunsaturated fats at low levels, but you would see more carotenoid absorption as you increase the amounts of those fats on a salad," Ferruzzi said.

The findings build on a 2004 Iowa State University study that showed better carotenoid absorption from full-fat dressings, when compared with low-fat or fat-free dressings.

After 10 people were shot — seven of them in one incident — overnight in Baltimore following the city's most violent month in decades, police announced Sunday that 10 federal agents will embed with the city's homicide unit for the next two months.

Interim Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis announced a reorganization of the department in an email to police Saturday night, formally promoting or moving 28 people into new roles and undoing some changes made by his predecessor Anthony W. Batts.

The Orioles had the opportunity to finish their weeklong homestand at Camden Yards by taking three of four from the Detroit Tigers, but as well as the Orioles have played at home, they’ve been a mediocre club there on Sundays.